University Press Releases

Santa Clara University scores high marks in national rankings

Monday, Aug. 20, 2007

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Aug. 20, 2007. For the 18th consecutive year, Santa ClaraUniversity was ranked second overall among 127 master’s universities in the West by U.S. News & World Report. SCU’s average undergraduate graduation rate, 85 percent, was the second highest in the country among 574 national master’s level universities.

In its annual ranking, “America’s Best Colleges 2008,” the magazine compared SCU with other similar comprehensive universities that offer a full range of undergraduate programs and master’s degrees, but few doctoral programs. The Western region includes master’s level colleges and universities from Colorado to the West Coast, including Texas. Other schools in the top 10 master’s universities in the West are GonzagaUniversity, SeattleUniversity, and CaliforniaPolytechnicStateUniversity, San Luis Obispo.

Additional highlights from the U.S. News rankings include:

SCU had the highest average freshman retention rate—93 percent—of master’s universities in the West. (The freshman retention rate reflects the percentage of freshmen who enroll in their sophomore year.)

SCU had the second-highest peer assessment score—4.0—of master’s universities in the West.

SCU’s school of engineering is No. 20 among the top 87 engineering schools in the country that focus on undergraduate and master’s engineering programs.

A section titled “Programs to Look For” highlighted SCU’s learning and residential communities where students in residence halls take some courses as a group to get to know one another and their professors better.

Of master’s universities in the West, SCU was also listed among the top 15 in the “Great Schools, Great Prices” category.

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its 8,377 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.